More on MobileMe vs. Google July 15, 2008
Posted by AlisterComputeron in How To, Internet, Mac, News, Technology.Tags: Apple, Google, Google Calendar, iPhone, Mac, MobileMe
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Yesterday I compared and contrasted the calendar offerings by Google and Apple’s newly launched MobileMe 
service. Today I’ll discuss the tasks and email features of the service.
Tasks
With MobileMe, tasks can be synced between your Mac and MobileMe, just like calendar items can. It doesn’t appear that you can sync tasks between MobileMe and Outlook, though. But since I can’t get MobileMe to sync with Outlook, any way, that’s a non-issue for me right now.
You can set up reminders for tasks on your calendar on the Mac, but MobileMe doesn’t offer such a feature. As I mentioned yesterday, I’m not an iPhone user, but I would guess that iPhone users get reminders via the calendar program on the phone.
Now Google doesn’t natively offer tasks within its calendar application. However, I found a nifty little way around that shortcoming. As with iCal, you can add shared calendars to your Google Calendar. A service called, Remember the Milk, has a calendar object that attaches to your calendar that will handle your tasks. You can create tasks right from your Google calendar, or you can go to the Remember the Milk site to create tasks. RTM can send notifications via SMS, has a mobile version, and even a version for iPhone and iPod Touch. The main drawback to the service is that it’s yet another account you have to create.
Gmail is the best, all-around email service other there. Their spam protection is simply unmatched by any of the others, in my experience. You get ample storage space for your mail, multiple ways of sorting an organizing your messages, and IMAP access to your email.
Admittedly, I didn’t use .Mac mail, so I don’t know what it was like before the switch to MobileMe. I like the mail application on the Mac. I have it set up to access my Gmail. But MobileMe mail is lacking. DavidS commented on one of my posts:
If they’re going to join the party that late, I’d have hoped they’d have brought something more to make up for it. Quite disappointing. The good news is there’s plenty of room for great improvements
I couldn’t agree more. The .Mac service has been criticized as being somewhat of an afterthought in Apple’s products and service lineup. The MobileMe mail isn’t going to do much to get Apple customers to consider paying for the MobileMe service when there are plenty of good free offerings available. But then again, iPhone users may find the service more useful than those of who don’t use iPhones.
So there you have it, in a couple of nutshells: some key differences between Google’s mail and calendar and Apple’s MobileMe. Leave some comments with your thoughts on Google vs. MobileMe.
Apple’s MobileMe is Up…Sort Of July 11, 2008
Posted by AlisterComputeron in How To, News, Technology.Tags: Apple, iTunes, MobileMe, Outlook, Technology
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Apple’s MobileMe service seems like it’s finally staying up. There are, however, still some issues with the service. Home pages, for example, aren’t yet available. And the service is incredibly slow. It’s taking several seconds to switch between applications on the MobileMe site, if it switches at all.
I’ve had some issues syncing Outlook with MobileMe, as well. My first couple of attempts failed, and I’ve got a sync operation going now that appears to be working. The sync program asked me how I wanted to sync: merge, copy Outlook to MobileMe, or copy MobileMe to Outlook.
Speaking of syncing. One thing that is a little annoying, is that if you want to sync Outlook and MobileMe, you have to download iTunes v7.7. That version contains a utility that gets installed to the Windows Control Panel, which is where you control the syncing options. Apple should have made that a separate download. I don’t use iTunes on my work computer.
But from what I’m seeing so far, I like it. If Apple gets these performance issues worked out, it’s going to be a very cool service.
So You Want to be a Superhero June 25, 2008
Posted by AlisterComputeron in Blogging, How To, Technology.Tags: Help Desk, IT, Superhero, Tech Support, Technology, Users
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I spend a lot of time doing research on the Internet. As the network administrator for a small company, I’m charged with doing a lot of different things, which, as they say, makes me master of nothing. So when problems arise, it’s likely that I don’t know the answer off the top of my head.
In the course of my research, I often read items in forums. Often – too often, in fact – there’s someone posting an answer in a forum that thinks he has provide a little sarcasm with his answer. Sure the answer my be correct, but having the right answer sometimes isn’t everything.
What makes me a superhero at my job is not simply providing answers to my users, but answering and solving their IT problems with a positive attitude. I try my best not to make users feel stupid for asking, well stupid questions. And I always try my best to provide service with a smile. Simply by being positive and upbeat, I’ve earned the trust and respect of my users.
You can have all the answers and be prompt and responsive, but if people don’t like your attitude, they won’t seek your help. My wife sometimes calls me for tech support with things like Excel questions, because the IT staff at her company takes forever to respond to help desk calls, and they aren’t very personable when they do respond. Unfortunately, some IT people want to just tinker with technology and not be bothered by the users. But like it or not, the people – the users – are why the technology exists, and supporting the users are why the IT guys and gals are employed.
Becoming an IT superhero is not difficult: You just need to truly care about your users. And when you honestly care about your users, they’ll know it. The more you work with them, talk to them, get to know them, the more your status as a superhero will increase.
